March i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



643 



of earth. It is not so easy, however, to rear the seed- 

 Uiigs during the two or three months of their existence, 

 except in the case of those which have been grown in 

 the open air. If they have to be pricked out from the 

 seed-pad the risk of injury is great. This pricking out is 

 best done early, when the plants have only three or four 

 leaves. They should be placed in small pots, in a compost 

 of vegetable mould, sand, and loam, in equal proportions, 

 and should be placed in a shaded position till they have 

 established themselves, when they must be exposed gra- 

 dually to sun and air. Injurious watering is the greatest 

 tlauger likely to befall them. M. NauiUn points out that 

 they are naturally plants of a very dry cUmate, mth abund- 

 ance of clear light. As they grow on the plants should 

 be shifted into larger pots with a larger proportion of 

 ioam terre f ranch e, and with good drainage : the pots can 

 be protected in winter if necessary, and planted out in 

 the open the next year (M. Naudin is writing in the 

 Mediterranean regions;. 



The site where the Eucalypts are to be planted should 

 be chosen beforehand, for they admit to rival near them 

 and by their rapid growth make large demands on the 

 soil, which should therefore be deep, though there are 

 some dwarf-growiug *• scrub " species which do well on a 

 sliallow rocky soil. 



AVhen it is desired to make a plantation, the trees should 

 \n'. i>lauted in lines at equal distances, at first thickly, each 

 tree having a space of 4 square metres — that is to say, 

 there should be 2,500 trees per h(;ctare (a hectare is rather 

 more than 2 acres). After three or four years clearances 

 should be made by removing alternate lines of the trees, 

 first Ipngthwise and after an interval in the opposite 

 du-ection, so as to leave space between the trees as they 

 grow. Pruniii^' should scarcely be required unless in the 

 case of misshapen trcns. At the end of ten years the 

 number of trees per hectare should be i)y the means above 

 detailed reduced to 400 — 5(Xi. 

 ^ . Felling may commence after about twenty years, ac- 

 cording to circumstances, the trees having by that time 

 acquired a height of 20 — 25 metres, and a girth at 1 metre 

 about the soil of 2*5() — 3 metres. 



The profit to be obtained, of course, will vary according 

 , to local circumstances, but under ordinary conditions a 

 very satisfactory result may be counted on. 



For the most part the Eucalypts are trees of warm tem- 

 perate regions, where the winter is mild, the spring rainy, 

 the summer hot and dry. Very few of them are found 

 in *ihe tropics. 8ome of the Tasmanian species, such as 

 amygdalina, coccifera, or some from the Australian alps — 

 R. Gunnii. coriacea, polyanthema — may succeed near the 

 sea in Western Europe. 8ome species are limited in dis- 

 tribution by soil characters, some being found on sand- 

 stone, some on basalt, granite, or limestone. Incidentally 

 M. Xaiulin speaks of the value of the flowers as food for 

 bees. 



The culture of the Eucalj-ptus in Southern Eui'ope only 

 ilates from the last quarter of a century, but the trees 

 are now to be counted by hundreds of thousands, AVith- 

 out pledging himself to any opinion as to any special 

 \'Titue in Eucalypts, such as has been claimed for them, 

 M. Naudin points out how valuable trees are as sanitary 

 agents, and especially in countries like some parts of Italy, 

 Algiers, and Turkey, where the indiscriminate felling of 

 the forests has rendered the country a desert. What a 

 melancholy spectacle for the traveller in these countries, 

 formerly fl.ourishing and deeply populated, to sec them 

 now barren, reduced to their rocky skeletons, or with their 

 plains alternately scorched by the sun, or transformed into 

 pestilential swamps. The remedy is now known, and it 

 is not beyond the power of a civilised Government to 

 effect it in time by means of replanting, and a proper 

 system of forest conservancy. Thi^ condition of Algeria, 

 which M. Naudin has studied for himself, leads him to 

 advocate replanting there on the largest possible scale, 

 in spite of the im-vitable cost and diflicuUy of the pro- 

 ceeding. Various Oaks, Abies Pinsapo, Pinus halepensis, 

 Pistacia atlantica, &c., form the natural timber of the 

 conntry, but tliese have been recklessly destroyed, and 

 meanwhile timber ajid firewood are urgently needed by 

 the growing population. M. Naudin shows how the Eu- 

 cah'ptus globuUis will supply in the same period of time 

 at least four times as much timbt-r as an Oak. 



With these remarks, with which all who have considered 

 the subject must in substance concur, M. Naudin prefaces 

 his detailed description of the thirty-one species which he 

 has been enabled to study from the seedling to the fruit- 

 ing stage. Descriptions of these are given in Latin, as 

 being serviceable all over the world ; and, as we have 

 said, the primary distinctions are based upon the iutlor- 

 escence, the flower being solitary, or cymose, umbellate, 

 or panicled. Afterwards come characters founded upon the 

 number of flowers in each inflorescence, the distribution 

 of the stamens, the form of the calyx-lid (operculum), &c. 



M. Naudin has had many other species under observ- 

 ation, but only includes those which he has been enabled 

 to study from the seeding stage to maturity. AVe may 

 add that there is a collection of several species repre- 

 sented, of course by small specimens only, in the Temp- 

 erate-house at K'iw. — Gardeners^ Chronicle. 



GUTTA-PEKGHA. 



BY JAMES COLLINS. 



{Continued frorn p. 635.) 



The trees yielding gutta-percha are very restricted iu 

 their geographical distribution. Gutzlaff defines the limits 

 as 6° N. and S. L. and 100 ^ to 120° E. L., but lam inclined 

 to think this area much too wide. In this I am supported 

 by Captain Lingard, who has traded largely in gutta-percha, 

 and collected it on the spot. He gives the limits 4 ^ N . 

 and '.^ ® S., still further restricting the finer varieties to 

 A^ 5' N. and 1® S., with a temperature whose outside 

 limits is 06 "^ to 90"^ Fahi*., and a very moist atmosphere. 

 The lower kinds, of course, grow outside of these circum- 

 scribed limits, and are found near the sea coast on low 

 but not swampy ground, whilst the best varieties gi-ow in- 

 land on hill slopes and in groves, surrounded by other 

 forest trees, at an elevation said to be from 100 to 600 

 feet above the sea. Gutta-percha trees are indigenous to 

 Singapore, although only two or three are now to be seen 

 as curiosities. In that island the mean total rainfall for 

 five years ending 187H was:— l»6i>, 90t>;j in.; 1870, 123-24; 

 1871,' 109-45 ; 1S72, 75-30; and in 1873, 85-6 J inches. This 

 rainfall is variable at diffcrtmt periods, and the year may 

 be divided into three periods of four months each: — 



1st. From January to Ajinl, during which the rainfall 

 is very variable and uncertain. 



2ud. From May to August, which may be termed the 

 dry season, and is the period, as a rule, in which the rain- 

 fall is least. 



3rd. From September to December, which may be flailed 

 the wet season, and during which, as a rule, the rainfall 

 is greatest. 



As to temperature for the same period:— The highest 

 was in 1869, 92°; 1870, 93=; 1871, 91 ^ 5'; 1872, 92° ; 

 1873, 92° 5'. The lowest was in 1809, 69° ; 1870, 69° ; 

 1871, 69°; 1872, 67°; 1873, 63° 5'. 



It ai))iears, therefore, that gutta-percha trees thrive best 

 where they have a light Innniv soil, at the foot or slopes 

 of hills, surrounded by primitive jungle, and with a moist 

 temperature not rising above 95° or sinking below 66° 

 Fahr. 



The collection of gutta-percha generally takes place 

 directly after the rainy season is over, as in the dry season 

 the gutta does not flow so readily; during the rainy season 

 much gutta is washed away as it flows out, and the collectors 

 are more liable to ague and jungle fever. Often the natives 

 go in companies, receiving advances in money, clothes, food, 

 and tools to be afterwards deducted, although it is not 

 uncommon that through the non-success, death, or knavery 

 of the collectors, the trader loses both principal and interest. 

 Natives, too, collect gutta in their own vicinities, and barter 

 it at trading stations. 



The yield of a well-grown tree of the first or best variety 

 is from 2 to 3-lb. of gvitta-percha, whilst full grown trees 

 of from 100 to 140 feet high have been known to ^-i^-ld as 

 much as 50 to 60-lb. of gutta. The average yield of ditferent 

 varieties, differs materially, sometimes as much as 30 per 

 cent. Gutta-percha, too, often loses 35 per cent of its 

 weight in drying during the first six months after collection. 

 The methoil of extracting gutta-percha is much the same 

 among the Malays, Chinese, and Dyaks. The trees arH cut 

 down just above the buttresses by means of ''billiougs," 



